8. Communicative competence (CC)
: language classroom as a locus of meaningful, authentic exchanges among users of a language
: foreign language learning is viewed not just as a potentially predictable developmental process but also as the creation of meaning through interpersonal negotiation among learners
1) Defining communicative competence
: Congnitive psychology -> Social constructivism
: Hymes(1977)- CC: aspect of our competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts
: a dynamic, interpersonal construct that can be examined only by means of the overt performance of two or more individuals in the process of communication
: linguistic competence ≠ communicative competence
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Cummins(1980) |
CALP(Cognitive/academic language proficiency |
BICS(basic interpersonal communicative skills) |
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: Context-reduced communication : focus on form : learners use classroom exercise and tests that focus on text : Learner manipulates or reflects upon the surface features of language outside of the immediate interpersonal context. |
: Context-embedded communication : Focus on meaning : Communicative capacity that all children acquire in order to be able to function in daily interpersonal exchanges.
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Canale & Swain(1980) |
① grammatical competence (linguistic competence) ② discourse competence (while grammatical competence focuses on sentence-level grammar, discourse competence is concerned with intersectional relationships) : Connecting sentences in stretches of discourse : Form a meaningful whole |
③ sociolinguistic competence (requires an understanding of the social context in which language is used) ④ strategic competence (the strategies that one uses to compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules) : ability to make repairs, cope with imperfect knowledge : sustain communication through ‘paraphrase, repetition, hesitation, avoidance’ : Lg learners manipulate language in order to meet communicative goals |
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Bachman(1990) |
organizational competence: all those rules and systems (grammatical competence & textual competence) |
pragmatic categories : functional aspects(illocutionary competence) of language and sociolinguistic aspects : Illocutionary Competence: Ability to produce and comprehend an utterance in a particular context : Ability to manipulate functions of language : This is based on Halliday’s (1973) functions of language : Sociolinguistic competence: politeness, formality, metaphor, register, genre |
[Strategic Competence (Bachman, 1990)]
2) Language functions
: What is a lg function? The purposes that we accomplish with language
: Forms (e.g., morphemes, words, grammar rules, discourse rules) are required to accomplish a language function
: functions are essentially the purposes that we accomplish with language
: communication may be regarded as a combination of acts, a series of elements with purpose and intent
: communication is functional, purposive, and designed to bring about some effect-some change, however subtle or unobservable-on the environment of hearers and speakers
2-1) Halliday's seven functions of language
① instrumental function: to cause certain events to happen
ex) “Don’t touch the stove.”, “I pronounce you guilty and sentence you to three years in prison.”
② regulatory function: control of events
ex) “Upon good behavior, you will be eligible for parole in 10 months."
③ representational function: to make statements, convey facts and knowledge, explain or report
ex) “The sun is hot.”, “The president gave a speech last night.”
④ interactional function: to ensure social maintenance
ex) Jargon, jokes, folklore, cultural mores, politeness and formality expectations
⑤ personal function: to express feelings, emotions, personality, 'gut-level' reactions
ex) Feelings, emotions, personality, gut-level reactions
⑥ heuristic function: to acquire knowledge, to learn about the environment
ex) “Why” question
⑦ imaginative function: to create imaginary systems or ideas
: these seven functions of language are neither discrete nor mutually exclusive
: a single sentence or conversation might incorporate many different functions simultaneouly
ex) Telling fairy tales, joking, writing a novel, poetry, tongue twisters, puns
2-2) Functional approaches to language teaching
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functional approach |
the essential purposes that we accomplish with language. e.g., stating, requesting, responding, greeting, parting, etc. |
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notional -functional syllabuses |
the most apparent practical classroom application of the above approach. This term is commonly known as a “curriculum” in the US. It is attended to functions as organizing elements of a foreign language curriculum. Unlike structural syllabuses, it contains contexts or situations such as travel, health, education, shopping, and free time |
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function |
: attended to functions : organizing elements of a foreign language curriculum : language functions e.g.,) introducing oneself, apologizing, thanking, asking for information |
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notions |
: abstract concepts(existences, space, time, quantity, and quality) and contexts or situations(travel, health, education, shopping and free time) |
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: functional syllabuses(introducing self and other people, exchanging personal information, asking how to spell someone's name...)
: but! textbooks that claim to have a functional base may be "sorely inadequate and even misleading in their representation of language as interaction"
: a function is "covered" does not mean that learners have internalized it for authentic, unrehearsed use in the real world
: communication is qualitative and infinite; syllabus is quantitative and finite
3) Discourse analysis
: examination of the relationship between forms and function of language
: emphasizes intersentential relations in discourse
: discourse is language beyond the sentence
: a single sentence can seldom be fully analyzed without considering its context
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WHAT IS DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ?
Discourse analysis study the ways sentences and utterances (speech) go together to make texts and interactions and how those texts and interactions fit into our social world.
Why is it needed? To better understand other and communicate more effectively. |
: we string many sentences together in interrelated, cohesive units
ex) A: more coffee?
B: I'm okay.
: importance and intersentential relations in discourse
: a stand-alone sentence such as "I didn't like that cake" could be agreement, disagreement, argument, complaint, apology, insult, or simply a comment, depending on context
: with perfect pronunciation and grammar, but fail to achieve the communicative function / understanding the context / understanding the non-verbal features
: approaches that emphasized only the formal aspects of learner language overlooked important discourse functions
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discourse analysis |
3-1) Conversation analysis : One section of discourse analysis : Why do conversation analysis? Great examples of social and interactive nature : conversation is one of the most salient and significant modes of discourse
① attention getting (first and essential rule of conversation) ② topic nomination ③ topic development, using conventions of turn-taking ④ topic clarification ⑤ repair (strategic competence) ⑥ topic shifting and avoidance ⑦ interruptions ⑧ topic termination
* Grice(1967)-Conversational maxims ① Quantity: say only as much as is necessary for understanding the communication ② Quality: say only what is true ③ Relevance: say only what is relevant ④ Manner: Be clear : (quantity를 어길 때, relevance도 어길 가능성이 ↑) : widely used as criteria for analyzing why speakers are sometimes ineffective in conversations |
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3-2) Corpus linguistics : a branch of discourse analysis that has experience phenomenal growth and interest over the last decade or so is corpus linguistics : an approach to linguistic research that relies on computer analyses of language : Corpus - a collection of texts that is stored in electronic form and analyzed with the help of computer software programs : naturally occurring language : written or spoken language... tremendous possibilities for analysis of language across many different genres : able to identify word frequencies and co-occurrences
*caveats and disadvantages ① frequency may not be equivalent to what Widdowson(1991) called "usefulness" ② many of the data reflect English in the Inner Circle... and may not represent the reality of English ③ can be the result of their(corpus linguists) intuitive decisions or even their biases |
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3-3) Contrastive rhetoric : language occurs not in isolated syntactic structures but rather in naturally occurring discourses : Robert Kaplan(1966) - cross cultural aspects of writing, and in particular the difficulties learners may experience in acquiring conventions of writing in a second language : Kaplan ↳ the writing conventions of a language may in some ways define a culture ↳ much more detailed and accurate descriptions would be needed before a meaningful contrastive rhetorical system could be developed |
4) Pragmatics
: constraints on language comprehension and production may be loosely thought of as the effect of context on strings of linguistic events
: pragmatics considerations allowed all participants to interpret what would otherwise be ambiguous sentences
4-1) Sociopragmatics and Pragmalinguistics
: SLA becomes an exceedingly difficult task when these sociopragmatic or pragmaliguistic constraints are brought to bear. Pragmatic conventions from a learner’s first language can transfer both positively and negatively
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sociopragmatic |
pragmalinguistic |
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the interface between pragmatics and social organization |
the intersection of pragmatics and linguistic forms |
: A-what an unusual necklace. It's beautiful!
B-Please take it!
↳ nonnative English speakers misunderstood the illocutionary force
: grammar is almost simple when compared to the complexity of catching on to a seemingly never-ending list of pragmatic constraints
4-2) Language and Gender
: males and females use different syntactic and phonological variants
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female |
male |
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more 'standard' language |
interrupt more |
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more uncertainty (less confidence) |
stronger expletive |
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value connection and rapport -cooperative and facilitative conversationalists -concerned for their partner's positive face needs |
value status and report talk |
5) Discourse Style
: style... sets of conventions for selecting words, phrases, discourse, and nonverbal language in specified contexts
① oratorical style: in public speaking
② deliberative style: in addressing audience / typical university classroom lecture
③ consultative style: typically a dialog
ex) Business transactions, doctor-patient conversations
④ causal style: conversations between friend, colleagues, or family
⑤ intimate style: complete absence of social inhibitions
ex) Talk with family, loved ones, and very close friends, where the inner self is revealed
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register |
related to stylistic variation is another factor |
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sometimes enable people to identify with a particular group and to maintain solidarity |
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is also sometimes associated with social class distinctions, but here the line between register and dialect is difficult to define |
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cross-cultural variation is a primary barrier |
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: the acquisition of both styles and registers thus combines a linguistic and culture-learning process
6) Nonverbal communication
: silent language
: the expression of culture is so bound up in nonverbal communication that the barriers to culture learning are more nonverbal than verbal
① Kinesics
: study of relationship between nonlinguistic body motions and communication (e.g., shrug, crossing arms)
: every culture and language uses body language, or kinesics, in unique but clearly interpretable ways
: there is tremendous variation cross-culturally and cross-linguistically in the specific interpretations of gestures
② Eye contact
③ Proxemics
: cultures vary widely in acceptable distances for conversation
④ Artifacts (e.g. clothing and ornamentation)
⑤ Kinesthetics (touching)
⑥ Olfactory Dimensions
: CC includes nonverbal competence-knowledge of all the varying nonverbal semantics of the second culture, and an ability both to send and receive nonverbal signals unambiguously
7) CC in the Classroom: CLT and Task-Based Teaching
: CLT(Communicative Language Teaching) and TBI(Task-Based Instruction)
: communicative competence is such an intricate web of psychological, sociocltural, physical, and linguistic features